Olivier Aubin-Mercier says he got into mixed martial arts because of Georges St-Pierre and he did his MMA idol proud on episode seven on The Ultimate Fighter Nations.
Mercier, who now trains alongside GSP at Tristar Gym in Montreal, was looking to become the third welterweight member of Team Canada to advance to the semifinals as he faced Team Australia’s Jake Matthews.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch TUF Nations every Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360 and visit sportsnet.ca for weekly recaps and blogs
Mercier (4-0) is one of the top welterweight prospects in Canada. He’s a judo specialist with all four of his pro wins coming by way of first-round rear-naked-choke submission.
At just 19, Matthews (3-0) has shown glimpses of what he might become, but had never faced an opponent like Mercier before.
THE FIGHT
Matthews and Mercier each looked to find their range early and it was Matthews that was beating Mercier to the punch at first. Midway through the round, Mercier secured a trip takedown and was able to control Matthews from inside full guard.
Early in the second round, Matthews shot in for a takedown but Mercier countered with a kimura attempt and ended up in a dominant position on the ground. Mercier gained back control and remained there for the final four minutes, while attempting to lock in a rear-naked choke.
Mercier was unable to finish his opponent, but was awarded a unanimous, two-round decision.
)
“I’m happy I gave myself some experience especially on the feet. I’ve never got hit standing up so I was really trying to feel what it’s like to get hit, to block the shot,” Mercier said after his victory. “Jake was freaking explosive so he surprised me. I’m happy for this, but I’m not happy I didn’t finish the fight.”
Team Canada coach Patrick Cote was happy with his fighter’s performance even though he felt he could have done better at the beginning of the bout.
“Olivier had kind of a slow start. He told us he wanted to feel the punches a little bit because he’s never been punched in a real fight like that because he always takes his opponent down,” Cote said. “Olivier’s pretty good [from back control] and he was working and working to finish the fight, but Jake is tough and he looks very strong physically.”
Matthews didn’t feel like he performed up to his potential.
“Everyone says you’ll learn things from this fight. I learned you have to work hard obviously in training but in terms of techniques and everything I didn’t learn anything because I already knew it all. I just didn’t apply it in the fight,” Matthews said. “I did stupid things that I’ve never done before in a fight. I don’t know if it was the nerves that got to me or the whole thing felt surreal. I’m not sure.”
Team Australia coach Kyle Noke felt Matthews spent too much time trying to grapple with a more established grappler.
“Jake had great hands, he had big power shots. I think Jake could have knocked him out if he had more confidence in his standup,” Noke said. “He was killing him on the feet. He should have kept it there.”
On the next episode
Team Canada’s Luke Harris faces Team Australia’s Vik Grujic in the final middleweight matchup of the quarterfinals.
